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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Solving Exemplars: Low tech + High tech

This year I really wanted to embrace using math exemplars with my kinder kiddos. I was also lucky enough to have great new technology in my room like my smartboard. Trying to integrate this technology with the hands on, manipulative learning that my kids need has been and continues to be a goal of mine. This week I wanted to share how we used our math exemplars along with manipulatives, the smartboard, and our journals to do some amazing problem solving and recording!

The first thing that I did was to post the exemplar problem on the smartboard. I have math first thing in the morning, so the kids came into the room, unpacked and then began to decode the problem. They are allowed to help each other decode the problem while I help students finish coming in. Here is the problem.

Dylan has a box of craft sticks. Dylan needs 100 craft sticks to make a toy boat. Dylan puts his sticks into groups of 10. Dylan has eight groups. Does Dylan have enough sticks to make a toy boat? Show and tell how you know.

After everyone is unpacked and has had a chance to decode the problem. We met together as a whole group. We used shared reading to decode the problem together. We then used the colored pens to mark the information that we thought would be helpful in solving the problem. I used to do this on chart paper but it is so much fun to do it on the smartboard now!) I use name sticks to call on students to come up and highlight/circle the information. We always start by circling the question in green. We always want to know what is the problem asking us to do, first. We also write down what type of answer we will be finding. In this case it was a "yes" or "no".

Next, we continued our "highlighting" by marking the words that gave us data/information. We look for number words and words that tell us what is happening.

After we circled and reviewed this information as a whole group, math partners went and got out their designated math tub for the day. There is a chart in my room that tells the partners which manipulative tub is their choice. They took those tubs to a work space on the floor and used their manipulatives to solve the problem. At this point, I walk around and listen to their "math talk". I do not offer solutions. I stop and ask them to explain their thinking. This particular problem really let me know who needed help in grouping by 10's! I also use this opportunity to record their learning with my camera. I then upload the pictures to evernote to keep as a record of their learning. For the sake of time, I will post a picture of one group's solution.

After each group has come up with a solution, we do a gallery walk of everyone's solutions. We then meet back together on the carpet to discuss our solutions. We debate over what is right and wrong. We discuss why certain solutions are right or wrong. If necessary, I can put the pictures of the solutions up onto the smartboard to compare. Here is a screen shot of our analysis of the solution above.

After this, we decide on a solution statement and I used modeled writing this time to record it on the smartboard.

The last thing that we do is to record our thinking in our journals. I love having the documentation up on the smartboard so that we have a record to refer back to! The kids love to see their work being displayed as a solution. This is also helpful when we have to do our journal recording at a later time.

So there you have it... Solving math exemplars with both hands-on manipulatives and smartboard technology. Hope you enjoy it!